January 15, 2008 (Montreal, QC) – As reported earlier, US Olympic gold medal sprinter, Marion Jones, was sentenced last week to six months in prison for perjury during a doping investigation. Because she is the first world-class athlete from any sport to receive a jail sentence for a doping-related offence, Pedal contacted Montreal sports lawyer, Patrice M. Brunet, for his reaction.

Brunet is an authority on doping in sports and has been outspoken about his views on anti-doping laws and the lack of political will, especially in Canada, to enforce such laws. Brunet was chairman of the three-person American Arbitration Agency (AAA) panel that in September found cyclist Floyd Landis guilty of doping at the 2006 Tour de France and thus stripped him of his title. He is also an arbitrator with the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Here’s what Brunet had to say about the Marion Jones sentence:

“Marion Jones is not going to serve time because of the application of anti-doping legislation. She will be serving time because she committed perjury, which is the simple application of general penal law. She lied before a Grand Jury, during the indictment procedures of Victor Conte, and this is why she pays the price. She will not be serving time strictly because she doped. It is because she lied about the fact she was doping. The distinction is important.

Anti-doping legislation is necessary, both for Canada and the USA, for the ultimate purpose to protect the athletes. Under the current WADA environment, the athlete is mostly the only ultimate culprit, and pays a dear price for the actions of a slew of other individuals around him/her, who clearly stand to benefit from the athlete’s triumphs.

Legislation needs to recognize that the athlete is not the only individual responsible for doping. The net needs to be bigger: the trainer, the therapist, the doctor and the coach need to be held accountable as well. Maybe even the [athlete’s] parents, if they had knowledge of it. Right now, in Canada and the USA, they walk and may calmly focus on their next athlete/victim.

Only through domestic legislation will this be achieved. WADA is only powerful against those who participate in Olympic Games and International Sporting events. WADA’s fist does not reach to the coach and the doctor. Only criminal/penal legislation does.”

Read the NY Times report on the Marion Jones’ sentence here.

To learn more about Brunet’s views on the need for revised anti-doping legislation in Canada click here.